Conventional data centers generate large amounts of heat. Traditionally, data centers have maintained internal air temperatures via heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC) much colder than other internal HVAC controlled rooms. Such low temperatures in data centers have been the usual practice because certain equipment in data centers generate a large amount of heat. To date, equipment has been kept sufficiently cool to prevent damage by ensuring that the air at the intakes of the equipment cooling fans positioned within each piece of equipment is sufficiently cold. The air at the intakes of their cooling fans is the ambient air in the data center room. Thus, the air in the room is usually quite cold.
The cost of cooling a data center may be analyzed by reviewing two components. first, a cost exists for removing heat generated by the equipment, and a cost exists for maintaining a temperature difference between air outside of a data center and air inside of a data center. Even in the absence of the first cost, maintaining an inside temperature of 65 degrees Fahrenheit is quite expensive in hot and humid locales, such as Malaysia where the outside temperature may be 100 degrees Fahrenheit with high humidity. Humans working in the facility could work at 78-80 degrees but such an operating range of temperatures places component devices in the data center at risk of damage due to overheating. Thus, a need exists for a more efficient means of operating a data center.